Morocco’s marijuana farmers live in a strange limbo in which the brilliant green fields are left alone, while the growers themselves face constant police harassment. A new draft law may bring some reprieve: It aims to legalize marijuana growing for medical and industrial uses, a radical idea for a Muslim nation. It could alleviate poverty and social unrest, but the proposal faces stiff opposition in this conservative country, as well as the suspicions of farmers themselves, who think politicians can do nothing help them.

According to La Vie Eco, the Istiqlal Party has recently proposed a draft law to decriminalize and regulate the cultivation of cannabis for medical and pharmaceutical ends. The Istiqlal Party thus becomes the first party to take this issue to the parliament. The objective is to delimit the cultivation of cannabis to certain regions, namely Al Hoceima, Chaouen, Tétouan, Ouezzane and Taounate. Beyond these regions, the cultivation of this plant will be prohibited.

One of Morocco’s main political parties, the Party for Authenticity and Modernity (PAM), established by a close adviser to the king, started the process of legalizing marijuana cultivation with a hearing in parliament over its industrial and medical uses. The hearing is the first step in eventually introducing a draft law, aiming to help small farmers who survive on the crop but live at the mercy of drug lords and eradication by police. "We are not seeking to legalize the production of drugs, but to search for possible medical and industrial uses of this plant and create an alternative economy in the region," said Milouda Hazib. (See also: Morocco lawmakers stoke cannabis debate)